Colombo: Hailing sacrifices of security forces personnel who became disabled during country's civil war, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has thanked them for their contribution in defeating LTTE.
"Though you are physically handicapped, you are stronger than most of the others in our society and I am eternally grateful to the strength you all gave me to defeat LTTE,"
Rajapaksa said here yesterday.
"You are the only ones who can hold your head high and live with dignity and self respect." he said at a function to mark the International Day of Persons of Disabilities.
"What you ask is not sympathy but the right to exist. I like to remind you that I will always respect and pay heed to this request," he said.
"There were also those who sacrificed their legs so that we can today walk freely on our soil. These are the real heroes," he added.
The President said one of the yardsticks by which a society is judged is the way in which that society treats its disabled.
"Going by such a barometer I am certain that our country is up there on the top. We will endeavour to provide you with a life that would enable you to live with self-respect," Rajapaksa added.
Three decades long civil war in the country ended in May this year with the killing of tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 04, 2009, 16:16